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Exotic car in ruins draws a crowd

Saturday, January 24, 2009

(Updated Monday, January 26 - 10:07 am)

By Sonja Elmquist
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO - A piece of yellow plastic here. A turn-signal bulb there. Chuck Maner picked up remnants left behind after a tow truck hauled away a Lamborghini that crashed Friday afternoon on Norwalk Street.

"It's the closest I'll get to a Lamborghini," Maner said.

He held up two handfuls of decadent Italian debris and mentioned the song "One Piece at a Time," in which Johnny Cash describes stealing a car piece by piece from 1949 to 1973 .

"If I furrow around enough, I'll get a full one," Maner said.

A small crowd gathered as the exotic roadster was dragged onto a wrecker; the crowd dispersed as the wrecker carried the car away.

Chad Blackwelder of Thomasville said he wouldn't have paid much attention if just any car had wrecked. What drew his attention was a wrecked car with a price tag that makes sense to measure in fractions of a million dollars. Large fractions.

According to police, the man driving the Lamborghini lost control of the car because of a mechanical failure about 3 p.m Friday.

The car apparently drove off the left side of the road and came to rest against a chain-link fence at 344 Norwalk St.

No one was injured.

The driver declined to comment at the scene. Police did not identify him Friday night.

Maner, who works nearby, said the very same piece of fence had just been replaced two weeks earlier after a similar accident. But that car kept going, more of a "hit and bounce" than a hit and run, Maner said.

Contact Sonja Elmquist at 373-7090 or sonja.elmquist@news-record.com

Accompanying Photos

Joseph Rodriguez (News & Record)

Photo Caption: A driver lost control of a Lamborghini on Norwalk Street.

Additional Photos

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oh good grief

January 24, 2009 - 2:51 pm EST

Reminds me of an old joke --

Fellow is walking down a high-falutin' residential street in Beverly Hills hoping to find odd-job work. Man comes out of a fancy house, gets in a car, and drives up his driveway to the street. Fellow stops man in car and asks if he has any odd-jobs that need doing.

Man in car says, "Yes, if you're a good painter." Fellow says, "I'm a real good painter." Man in car says, "Then go around the back of the house. There are cans of paint back there to paint the porch. I'll be back this afternoon to pay you."

Man later returns to his house and sees that the porch hasn't been painted. Odd-job fellow comes from behind the house and homeowner asks why the porch isn't painted. Odd-job fellow (with fresh paint stains all over his clothes) says, "Mister, that's not a porch back there -- that's a Lamderjeenie."

kikablue

January 24, 2009 - 7:05 pm EST

The owner would have been better off buying a fiber glass bath tub, it would have been a whole lot cheaper than what he wasted on a FIBER GLASS CAR. But some never learn. The bigger the boy, the more EXPENSIVE the toy.

gsonative79

January 26, 2009 - 5:20 pm EST

Umm...regardless of your opinion on the owner's purchase, i can tell you that for over $400,000 he ended up with a pile of more carbon fiber body panels than fiberglass. Fiber glass is the relm of Corvettes, kit cars, and yes, bath tubs. At least have your facts straight before you criticize others.

Stump

February 3, 2009 - 1:39 am EST

You should know what you are talking about be for you post. The owner did not wast his money, some auto tech at anlinment shop wasted the shop's insurance. It is a crying shame that this great car was wasted on the streets of Greensbro. I Can here the driver (not the owner) telling his buddy's "Hay y'all watch this, I got a "laimborjiny" it real fast". How can you compair a bath tub to a Exotic car?

connieohyeah

January 25, 2009 - 2:02 pm EST

Mechanical failure or operator malfunction? Take it to the track! http://www.virclub.com

carnutz

January 26, 2009 - 5:17 pm EST

This was mechanical failure. The driver was not issued a ticket from the police officer.

bobcat

January 26, 2009 - 7:40 pm EST

GPD discontinued writing tickets in most accidents that do not involve injury.It is very evident that the driver was
speeding.The article did not mention the three cars that were hit on the other side of the fence.One car had left
front fender damage,one had both left side doors heavily damaged,the third has unibody damage on the left rear
quarter panel.Just ask the Security Guard at gate 5 across the street from where the car landed how fast the car
was moving.This was not the first time the car had traveled down Norwalk St. Earlier that day it was seen and heard winding out the gears after crossing the railroad tracks.Lets face it,leave off al from mechanical and you
have mechanic falure to drive in a reasonable fashion.

carnutz

January 28, 2009 - 10:28 am EST

You may be correct about how fast the car was driven earlier that day. However, when the accident happened the car was driving at a speed of 45mph (proven by the measurements on the pavement and projectory path of the car). The car had been in a shop previous to the accident, and the mechanical failure is suspected to be caused by that visit. The three cars that were hit behind the fence did sustain damage. But, if the car was speeding, why were there no marks on the pavement from the tires? There was one small, lone mark. Also, GPD is very ready to write tickets in an accident. I know this first hand!

outoftheloop

January 30, 2009 - 7:24 pm EST

Hey carnutz reading your posts it almost seems like you have "skin in the game" or maybe you were the driver of the car?
You seem certain of the facts.
One thing I am sure about this is going to cost some insurance company big time and when talk of mech failure is passed about said insurance company will do a full investigation of the crash probably involving crash site experts and downloading info from ECUs and physical examination of the vehicle.
All this being said no one has reveiled the cause yet and until such time everything is speculation.
I do hope that this newspaper sees fit to publish the facts as they come out.

carnutz

February 13, 2009 - 11:59 am EST

No, I am not the driver, but know the driver personally. I will make sure the news and record publishes a follow-up with the final outcome. Thanks for your comments.

Stump

February 3, 2009 - 1:46 am EST

the car was " IN THE SHOP!". It was in the possiotion of the shop that worked on it! The owner never got it back from the Dealer.

carnutz

February 13, 2009 - 12:01 pm EST

The car was in a previous shop before the accident. It was a different shop. It went directly from that shop to the shop that had possession when it was wrecked.

gibsonboy84

March 6, 2009 - 12:15 am EST

Ok so here is the meat of this whole argument. If you could afford a Lamborghini and you wanted one who is to tell you that you couldn't have one. The owner wanted one so he bought it. It's not his fault you have to drive around a Hyundai. Second, this car was brought into the shop for a fix on the alignment. Now when you take your Hyundai to the shop to get an alignment I'm pretty sure that they don't take it up and down the road at "40 mph" to test it. It sits at the shop and when done they pull it out waiting on you to come and pay and pick it up. Not drive the piss out of it. The idiot mechanic thought that it would be a great idea to have fun with something that one he can't afford and two he can't control. Anyone who has ever driven in a super car can tell you it is nothing like a regular car. Just look at Eddie Griffin. You can go pull up that accident on youtube all day where he wrecked the $1.5mil Enzo. You are trying to control a 670hp car with a body that weighs nothing. Not your typical Corvette or the redneck favorite Mustang.